What We Think, We Become.

‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ by Norman Vincent Peale

Saba S.Chand

‘’Children are more expert in happiness than adults. The adult who can carry the spirit of a child into middle and old age is a genius, (Page 78)

This international bestseller written by the father of positive thinking, Dr Norman Vincent Peale, has sold over 15 million copies so far.

‘The Power of Positive Thinking’ teaches simple and feasible approach for living. The dynamic laws in this book are Dr Peale’s personal search for life. He found these laws out of solution for his problems. It is a cultivation of peace of mind, not as an escape from life but as a practical way to face life and to overcome fears and insecurities that helps us accomplish worthwhile goals. We can have peace of mind, improved health and never-ending flow of energy due to positive thinking. In short, our life can be full of joy and happiness and success by following the laws the author has carved out.

This book consists of 7 chapters; I will go through these chapters giving a bird’s eye view of them.

Believe in yourself is the first lesson of the book. Believe in our abilities, believing that life is full of opportunities and joy. Self-belief leads to self-actualization and successful achievements. When your personality is inclined towards positivity, you start to draw success towards you.

Lesson number two is how to overcome inferiority complex. Inferiority complex is the main stumbling block to success. Deep and profound self-belief and tremendous faith in God give us self-confidence. Prayers can do wonders in developing self-confidence; the bigger your problems, the more should be your prayers. Repetition of confident ideas is antidote to the thoughts of insecurity and inadequacy. Your mind helps you manifest what you repeat and visualize time and again. Human being can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind because a man is what he thinks about all day long, ‘as you think so shall you become’. One of the most powerful cures for self-doubt is the thought that the Almighty is actually with you and is helping you, and He will be your companion if you are envisioning His presence.

Unhappiness is self-created. Social conditions are responsible for more than a few of problems but the truth is that many of us actually are manufacturers of our own unhappiness simply by thinking negative. Unhappiness is further increased when we saturate our mind with resentment, hate, fear and worry. Happiness instead is a habit which is developed simply by practicing happy thinking.

Mr Peale suggests practice of clearing your mind from fear, hatred, insecurities and guilt feeling. This practice gives peace and energy to our minds. Frequent mental catharsis of clearing the mind is very important for a peaceful night sleep for which people take sleeping pills. Make a mental list of present things which you consider blessings in your life, and pass them through your mind several times each day by consciously rejecting the negative thoughts and substituting them with pleasant ones for a few minutes. Let that picture of happy experience, you expect to have during the day, pass across your mind. Have gratitude for what you already have and repeating this kind of grateful and positive phrases and by meditating on the meaning of those phrases in the morning will change the character of your day and will make you strong physically, mentally and emotionally.

Technique of repeating beautiful words loud have profound healing power too.

The most useful lesson we learn from this book is that the negative emotions like resentment, hatred, anger, jealousy, guilt, anxiety, are responsible for ailments like insomnia, diabetes, hypertension, arthritis and ageing, as well as heart diseases. These mental conditions control our physical conditions.

Dr.George W .Crile, a famous American surgeon, said:

‘We fear not only in our minds but in our hearts, brains and viscera, that whatever the cause of fear and worry, the effect can always be noted in the cells, tissues, and organs of the body’ (Page157)

Hate blocks mental energies and people who feel energy-less are basically disorganized to one degree or the other by their deep, fundamental emotional and psychological conflict.

The secret of a wonderful and successful life is to chase away those old, dead, unhealthy thoughts, and to substitute them with new vital, dynamic and thoughts of positivity and possibility. This inflow of new thoughts will remake you and your life.

In the same way positive thinking gives us a lot of mental energy which we use physically. Positivity is responsible for good health and longevity of life, people who worry age rapidly and die soon while people who worry less live a longer and fuller life.

Another important lesson the book imparts is that when you expect the best, a magnetic force in your mind is created, which by the law of attraction, tends to bring the best to you. But if you expect the worst, you release from your mind the power of repulsion which tends to force the best from you. So, by visualizing the picture of the best, and nurturing it in our mind on a daily basis, gives us the desired positive results.